Hamas: Olmert's speech, another Israeli failure after the 2006 Lebanon war

Sunday January 18, 2009 01:18 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Osama Hamdan, representative of Hamas movement in Lebanon, stated on Saturday that the speech of Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, in which he declared a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza, is considered another Israeli failure to win against the resistance, similar to the Israeli failure in the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006.

Hamdan added that this speech is a victory to the steadfast Palestinian resistance, and added that Olmert claimed that his army managed to strike Hamas movement and its fighters, but also admitted that the army failed to free the captured soldier, Gilad Shalit, and does not even know his whereabouts.

Shalit was captured by Palestinian fighters in June 26, 2006, after he was captured, Israel waged a war against Gaza, killed hundreds of Palestinians but failed to locate its soldier. The Hamas political leader also said that Olmert wants to keep his troops in Gaza, and that this decision will lead to further resistance against the occupation forces.

“The crimes committed by the army in Gaza will add more factors to resistance, the fighters who are countering the Israeli tanks and shells are the ones who lived through the first Intifada”, Hamdan added, “the new generation that lived through this current holocaust, will be the new generation of resistance”.

The Hamas leader also said that Olmert was hesitant when he “declared victory over Hamas” and when he claimed the army managed to weaken Hamas, but at the same time Olmert said that he wants international guarantees to weaken Hamas.

“Olmert said that he used the full power of his army in this war against Gaza, yet he failed to win the battle”, Hamdan stated, “this shows that Israel is incapable of defeating Hamas, this speech is a speech of failure and Israeli disappointment”.

Hamdan further said that Olmert tried to focus on barring weapon smuggling into Gaza, and added that these statements prove that Olmert is not pleased with the outcome of his offensive against Gaza.

“This speech is a speech of disappointment by Olmert who started his political life with failure and is ending it with another failure”, Hamdan stated, “These failures are new chances to the resistance”.

On Saturday at night, Israeli TV Channel 10 reported that the army used half of its air force in the strikes against Gaza and carried out at least 2500 air strikes in three weeks.

Channel 10 military correspondent said that Israeli war jets had dropped over a thousand tons of explosives during the offensive. This is besides the hundreds of shells fired by the Israeli tanks, artillery, infantry brigades and gunboats.

More than 1,200 Palestinians, including children, infants and women, were killed in 22 days of Israeli shelling, the number of those injured have exceeded 5,400 including 400 in critical conditions, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported Saturday.

Hamas vows to fight on, ignoring Israeli declaration of ceasefire

Date: 17 / 01 / 2009  Time:  13:00
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Hamas said on Saturday that it will ignore any unilateral announcement of a ceasefire by Israel.

Usama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon said that the movement will fight on until its demands are met. Speaking during a televised interview in Beirut, Hamdan said Hamas has “nothing new” to say regarding a possible ceasefire.

"Today the movement's delegation arrives in Cairo. And clearly, we have nothing new to offer... Either we hear what we have demanded or the result will be the continuation of confrontation on the ground,” Hamdan said.

The Israeli security cabinet is expected to endorse a unilateral halt in its attacks on Saturday night, exactly three weeks after it began its massive assault on the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile officials representing both Hamas and Israel are in Cairo where they are negotiating with Egypt an indirect bilateral ceasefire agreement. On Friday Israel reportedly rejected a Hamas proposal for a 12-month renewable ceasefire, demanding an indefinite truce.

Analysis suggest that by declaring a one-way ceasefire, it may be attempting to compel Hamas to offer more concessions in the Cairo talks.